Some good things came to an end Friday night at Palo Duro Activity Center.

The first half of the District 3-4A girls basketball season came to an end with an appropriately intense, competitive game between two teams with state rankings. It ended with No. 11 Palo Duro beating No. 2 Canyon 46-43 in overtime, giving Palo Duro the undisputed district lead with a 5-0 record.

After coming up on the short end of close games against Canyon in years past, Palo Duro coach A.J. Johnson didn’t underestimate the importance of the win.

“It was a big win for our program,” Johnson said. “We had all of these seniors, and they had never beaten Canyon on varsity. I think this will help the younger kids know they can beat a team like Canyon in the future.”

For 13 years, Palo Duro was the only team that had beaten Canyon in a district game.

But for the second time in a week, the Lady Eagles (22-5, 3-2) lost a district game. Canyon lost Tuesday night to Amarillo High, 37-35.

It’s the first time in Joe Lombard’s 28 seasons at Canyon that his team has lost back-to-back district games. Still, Lombard’s team is only five points from an unbeaten district record.

“I thought we got better,” Lombard said. “We had some things offensively which were a lot better. We still need to be able to handle the pressure a little better.”

The Lady Eagles took a 26-14 lead with 3:44 left in the first half after a pair of free throws by Taylor Jones.

Palo Duro cut the lead to 27-21 at halftime. The Lady Dons ended the third quarter with a 10-0 run to go up 35-30.

Canyon came back to tie it at 41-41 when Madison Parker made a free throw with 3:31 left. After Parker missed the second free throw, the Lady Dons brought the ball upcourt and went into a delay as Sasha Watson held the ball most of the time.

“(The Lady Eagles) were in a one-and-one, and we didn’t want to put them on the line,” Johnson said. “And I felt if we would milk the clock, it would work in our favor.”

But Palo Duro couldn’t hit a shot, and the game went into overtime.

Halley Bates scored all of PD’s points in the extra period, opening with a 3-pointer then scoring on a layup to give the Lady Dons a 46-41 lead. It showed PD has more than Watson (who had 16 points) as a go-to player.

“I thought (the Lady Eagles) were going to get out and pressure us more in overtime,” said Bates, who scored 14 points. “(Scoring the first five points) really changed things in overtime because it gave us the confidence we could win.”

Kyndal Davis, who led Canyon with 16 points, converted a steal into a layup to cut Canyon’s deficit to 46-43. But nobody scored the rest of the way.

The Lady Eagles got possession of a jump ball with five seconds left, but Taylor Jones missed a long 3-pointer as Palo Duro claimed victory.

“It feels great,” said Watson, PD’s only fourth-year player. “There’s been maybe two Palo Duro teams who’ve beaten (Canyon). It was that way my freshman year when they came in here and beat us by two in the last second.”